Ask any cook, food writer or culinary TV personality and they’re likely to have a story about that one technique or skill that they never quite mastered.At ICE, we specialize in furthering the skills of a wide range of food lovers — from aspiring young chefs to enthusiastic home cooks and even advanced professionals. So when we learned of a few weak spots that Dana wasn’t able to tackle in her cookbook, we invited her to ICE to meet with our roster of culinary, mixology, chocolate and bread baking experts.
Below, watch what happens when Dana steps into the ICE kitchens to fill in the gaps of her culinary knowledge base.
It started out with the martini—a classic drink with nuances Dana had yet to master. We teamed her up with ICE Director of Beverage Studies Anthony Caporale, who taught her not only how to shake, stir and handle a jigger, but also how to put her own twist on traditional gin cocktails.
As a longtime editor in the food world, Dana receives her fair share of ambitious culinary gifts. One that has long remained in the back of her closet is the dehydrator, so we called in ICE Director of Culinary Research James Briscione to persuade Dana to dust off this versatile cooking tool. From there, Dana confided that she’s always been intimidated by charring, so we asked Chef James to turn up the heat for a recipe featuring robust smoky flavor.
Bread is a notoriously challenging culinary pursuit, which explains why Dana typically leaves her loaves to the experts. But with bakers like Sim Cass and Chad Pagano on our faculty, we knew we could help demystify the fascinating craft of bread baking. Chef Sim shares his passion for naturally fermented sourdough while Chef Chad teaches Dana how to make a savory focaccia.
It's no surprise that Dana, as a home cook, hadn’t tried her hand at chocolate making. And no trip to ICE would be complete without a lesson in our new bean-to-bar chocolate lab. For the ultimate chocolate master class, we paired Dana with ICE Creative Director Michael Laiskonis, who shared his tips for at-home tempering, as well as his interpretation of Dana’s favorite candy bar: the 100 Grand.
